What is dark matter?

Certainly! Dark matter is a mysterious form of matter that doesn’t emit, absorb, or reflect light, which means we cannot see it directly with telescopes. Scientists believe it makes up about 27% of the universe’s total mass and energy, playing a crucial role in holding galaxies and galaxy clusters together through its gravitational pull. Even though dark matter is invisible, we know it exists because of its gravitational effects on visible matter. For example, stars in galaxies move faster than expected based on the amount of visible matter alone, suggesting there’s extra unseen mass influencing their motion. Dark matter acts like an invisible scaffold that helps shape the structure of the universe, but its exact nature remains one of the biggest mysteries in physics today. In simple terms, think of dark matter as the “invisible glue” that holds galaxies and galaxy clusters together, even though we cannot see or touch it directly. Scientists are still working hard to understand what it’s made of and how it fits into the bigger picture of the cosmos.